BuzzFeed Misses The Mark On “Questions Black People Have For Black People” Video

The video has prompted social media users to ask the question, "Why was this created?"

A video released by BuzzFeed this week titled “27 Questions Black People Have For Black People” has prompted social media users to ask the question, “Why was this created?”

The video, which features Black BuzzFeed employees presenting questions that seem to perpetuate sweeping generalizations and inaccurate stereotypes, starts off satirical, but ends up looking like a bunch of people confused about the role racism plays in most of the questions, putting the onus on Black people — not systemic oppression — to answer.

“If my dab is on fleek, am I lit?,” quickly and irresponsibly evolved to “Why are we more likely to engage in the new dance trend than we are to get involved in politics or opening a business?”

Sadly, the latter is grossly inaccurate. In fact, millennials and college students — who are most likely to be knowledgable about dabbing or why Young Metro doesn’t trust anyone — are also likely to be the catalyst for change in social justice and political movements on campus and beyond. In addition to playing a major role in the Black Lives Matter movement, Black millennials are largely responsible for the wave of holding presidential candidates and school officials from Mizzou to Duke accountable.

But that question was only the beginning.

Between “Why do we call each other the N word but get vehemently upset when a white person uses the N word?” and “Why is growing up without a father so common in our race?,” a viewer might get a sense that maybe this video wasn’t made for Black people at all. And while it’s fair to say the controversy surrounding the n-word and if Black people should use it is common in Black communities, asking why we get upset when White people use the word is offensive in itself.

Not to mention the recent debunking of the “dead-beat Black father” trope we’ve all been conditioned to believe.

It seems finding the answers to these questions, which are either explained through acknowledging White supremacy or statistics, is right in front of them.

BuzzFeed, you had the answers. So, why the video? This concern was conveyed best on Twitter, where users started the hashtags #BuzzFeedVideoQuestions and #RealBlackPeopleQuestions (created by Jozen Cummings) to show the mega-site how off the mark they really were.